Crushing Lies
by CompleteBlackout
Summary: What if Claire couldn't keep Frank Collins a secret for as long as she did? How will Shane, still mourning the death of his father, react when he finds out he was being lied to?  Set directly after Ghost Town . Don't read if you haven't read Ghost Town!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

**Shane POV**

It had been a week since Morganville had returned to normal. Well as normal as it ever could be. And a week since my dead dad had died to save me and the people I cared about. The only honourable thing he'd ever done which made it even worse. If he'd have died the drunken, hateful man I'd known throughout my childhood I probably would have been able to get over faster.

A hell of a lot faster than I got over Alyssa and my mother. I say over. You never really get over the loss of your loved ones. No matter how hard you try. And I tried. Drugs, alcohol, anything that would make me forget. But not this time. It wasn't just me I had to think about. I had Claire now. Slipping down that road again would hurt her and that would be the worst thing I could ever do.

I'd been trying to act as if everything was okay for just that reason. I knew seeing me in pain would do just that to her. So I acted as if I wasn't affected by Frank's death. But nonetheless, I felt Claire slipping away from me. She'd been distancing herself lately. Never wanting to spend time alone with me. I had no idea what I'd done. Perhaps she'd seen through my façade and just wanted me to be able to grieve on my own terms without having to hold back.

We were all watching a movie one night. Claire, Michael, Eve and I. Michael was sat on his chair with Eve curled up on his lap. About twenty minutes in I tried to put my arm around Claire. She shied away from me and shuffled a few centimetres down the sofa. It physically hurt me to not be able to touch her. Michael must have seen the pain cross my face because from the corner of my eye I saw him give me an apologetic look. I pretended not to see though and continued to pretend to watch the movie.

As soon as it finished, Claire mumbled something about needing an early night and ran for the stairs. Eve and Michael followed shortly after. I however opted for a different approach. I couldn't take much more of this. I instead went into the kitchen, took a beer from the fridge and sat down miserably at the table.

After three beers and a lot of reflection, I decided I needed to see Claire. I made my way, slightly stumbling up the stairs. But when I got to Claire's door I chickened out. It was already slightly open so I quietly slid down the wall and just sat there, trying to here her breathing. I could, it was slow and steady. She must have already been asleep.

I was falling asleep myself when a phone began to ring, jolting me upright. It was coming from Claire's room. Rubbing my eyes I looked at my watch. It was two in the morning. Who would be calling her at this time of night? I listened intently to try and find out the answer to my question.

"Hello," she said sleepily. After a short pause she said. "What do you want Myrnin?"

"No," she said. "I told you today. I'm not having any more to do with it." She sounded angry and that worried me. "I don't care." Her voice was thick and she sounded as if she wanted to cry. Automatically, I stood feeling the need to go to her. "I can't lie to him anymore." Who was she talking about?

From the back of my mind a niggling voice told me that I shouldn't be listening to her private phone calls but I easily silenced it. I was eager to find out why she sounded so upset. "No Myrnin. He thinks his dad is dead. I've seen how upset he is. You'll kill me before you get me to work with Frank again. I can't do this to him."

I froze. My dad. She was talking about my dad. And me presumably. If there was anymore to the phone call I couldn't hear it because my head was swimming with thoughts. Without being able to help myself I threw her door open so hard that it hit the wall and compacted with a large bang!

The noise made her jump and spin around. She'd been staring out of the window but now she stood facing me. From the glow of the hallway light I could see that she'd been crying.

"Shane," she said taking a step towards me. I put a hand up as a gesture for her to stop because I couldn't seem to form words. I could feel a tear fall down my face as well. It must have been obvious that I'd been listening to her conversation because she did exactly what I wanted her to.

"Claire," I said after a few moments. "I'm really hoping that this is some kind of sick joke and that Eve and Michael are going to burst out of your cupboard yelling 'surprise.'"

"Shane-"

"Because the only other alternative is that my dad, the person who I saw get blown into a million pieces, is not dead. So which is it?"

"Shane I'm so sorry."

"Oh my God." I fell to my knees and Claire instantly rushed over and put her hands on my shoulders. I saw the remains of him. Something like that meant that not even a vampire could stay alive. So how could he be?

Then it hit me. Claire's crazy boss Myrnin had once put one of his assistant's brains in a jar. I didn't need Claire's super intelligence to figure this one out for myself. Myrnin… had put my dad's brain in a jar.

I felt sick. I rushed to my feet and ran to the bathroom where I couldn't help but retch my guts up. Claire was beside me the whole time. Running her hands through my hair and asking me if I was okay. After another few minute of vomiting, I managed to pull myself up to the sink, clean my teeth and rinse my mouth out.

Without looking at the one person who I thought that I could always count on, I started down the hallway. "Shane wait," she said pulling me to a stop. "Let me explain."

"No," I shouted. My raised voice scared her. Especially since she wasn't use to it being directed at her. I never intentionally shouted at Claire. "There's nothing you could possibly say that will make any difference whatsoever."

Michael appeared in the hallway as I pulled free of Claire's grip. She was crying and it broke my heart. "What's going on?" Michael asked me clearly concerned.

"Ask. Her," I said separating each word.

"Shane please," she sobbed.

"No. Fuck you Claire." I stormed past a shocked Michael and went straight into my room, doing what Eve called a classic Shane and slamming my door shut, locking it as well.

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><p><strong>I was going to leave this as a one shot but does anyone think I should write at least a couple more chapters?<strong>

**Let me know in the reviews.**

**Paige :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Unable to stand any longer, I collapsed on my bed. I was too exhausted to change and get under the covers so I decided to just lie on top instead. Despite my exhaustion, I couldn't even try to sleep due to the fact that I heard Claire crying in the hallway. It took every ounce of my will power not to go to her, tell her that everything would be okay and that I loved her. I couldn't do that right now however much I wanted to. I knew that I'd end up saying something I'd regret in the heat of the moment. I wasn't very good with words at the best of times. Hopefully Michael would step up and take care of her for me.

After a while the crying distanced. Michael must have put her to bed thank God. Unfortunately, that wasn't the only noise. Somebody seemed to decide it was a good idea to give my door a beating from the outside. "Collins you ass," Eve yelled so loud it could have woke the neighbours up. Mind you, they were probably used to it by now. We weren't the quietest people to live near. "What the hell have you done now to upset Claire?"

I sighed. She always had to assume the worst in me. I couldn't really blame her given my track record with girls. But Claire wasn't like the other girls. Eve should have realised that. I heard mumbling outside followed by more of Eve's shouting. Michael must be trying to calm her down. After many insults directed my way, Eve and Michael went back to bed and that just left the muffled sobbing.

At some point in the night, I managed to fall asleep but morning came around far too quickly. I sat in my room for awhile, just staring into space for as long as I could before I went down stairs. It was eleven o'clock and I desperately hoped that Claire had gone to school already so that I didn't have to face her yet. Trying to make myself as quiet as possible, I crept slowly down the stairs. I held my breath as I pushed open the kitchen door.

Luckily for me, it was just Michael in there. I breathed a long sigh of relief and went over to the counter to help myself to a cup of coffee from the pot. To my surprise Michael didn't start shouting at me. Which could only mean one thing, he knew about Frank. He confirmed this by looking away when I turned to face him.

Instead of walking out like I usually would in the morning, I sat down at the table. I couldn't talk to my girlfriend right now and I needed my best friend. Even if he was a bloodsucker. "Where's Eve?" I asked casually trying to start up a conversation. Needless to say it wasn't my strong point.

"She went to work," he answered a little too quickly.

"Have you got anything planned today?"

"Yeah, I have to go to work soon."

He looked up at me and then looked at the table again. After the fourth time of him doing this I sighed. "I take it you know." Straight to the point, that was more like me.

"Yeah. Claire told me." I flinched slightly at her name but attempted to cover it by coughing. In front of Michael, no matter how upset I was, I couldn't show it. It was one of the unspoken rules. "I'm sorry Shane. I had no idea."

"I know man. It's not your fault."

"I just-"

"Michael, it's not your fault. You didn't take my father's brain and stick it in a jar in your secret lair." I stood up. Maybe talking about it was a bad idea. It wouldn't be a good idea to get myself angry.

Without warning Michael shot to his feet and hugged me. It wasn't a very guyish thing to do. Perhaps being a vampire was making him go soft. But I relented for a few seconds and hugged him back. Then I cleared my throat and patted him on the back in a clear sign of 'I love you but not that way.' Automatically Michael did the same.

The kitchen door opened and I turned to look. As feared, Claire was stood there. "Sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to interrupt." I looked at her and felt extremely bad. Her eyes were swollen and bloodshot from all the crying. I'd done that to her. How did I just sit there last night and listen to her in tears?

"You didn't," Michael answered. I couldn't look at the damage I'd inflicted on her anymore so I left my coffee on the table and walked past Claire out of the kitchen as fast as I could, ignoring her when she called my name.

When I reached my bedroom I shut the door and slid down to the floor. I squeezed my eyes tightly shut and banged my head against the door. It hurt more than I expected. Not banging my head against the door, being lied to. I'd been betrayed before but never by someone that I loved as much as Claire. Probably because I'd never actually loved anyone as much.

I couldn't understand it though. Why couldn't she have just told me? Did she really think I'd be angry with her? How could I be angry with the girl that always put her own well being after every body else's? Who'd do anything to protect the people she loved and cared about. To be honest though, she probably thought that I was angry with her now. That was my fault. The way I had shouted at her last night was inexcusable.

I needed to make it up to her before she began to over think it. Scrambling to my feet, I opened my door and made my way across the hallway to Claire's room. I hadn't heard anybody coming up the stairs since I did so I went straight in without hesitating. Just as I thought, she wasn't there. I walked over to the window, where Claire had been stood last night and looked out.

Even though I shut the door behind me when I came in, Claire somehow managed to open it without me hearing. "Shane," she said. As I turned to face her I noticed she looked even more upset than she did in the kitchen earlier.

"Claire," I replied. "I think we need to talk."

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><p><strong>Thanks to the guys who reviewed. I took your advice and decided to carry on with it.<br>I'll be writing more chapters so look out for that.  
>Keep reviewing.<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"_Claire," I replied. "I think we need to talk."_

"Yeah," she said quietly. She made no move at all. Instead she just stood frozen in the doorway.

"Has Michael…"

"He went to work," she said answering my question before I had a chance to finish it. Sometimes it was scary to think about how connected we were. At how we could usually tell what the other was thinking through a single look. Needless to say the incident we were in now was the exception to the rule.

"Good." We needed time alone to discuss things. Without constantly being interrupted by our inquisitive roommates. I loved them and everything but although I knew that they meant well, this was between Claire and I. Nobody else. Not even those closest to us.

"So…" she said shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

"You lied to me," I blurted out. I didn't mean for it to sound so harsh and blunt.

Hurt spread across her entire face. Like any and all the hope she had had, vanished. "Shane-"

"No listen to me." I needed to get what I was thinking out in the open because it was suffocating me. I needed to share the burden of my feelings. "You lied to me Claire. I thought we were way past the stage in a relationship where we couldn't trust each other. In fact, I'm not sure we've ever been at the stage. For as long as I've known you, I've been completely honest with you… about everything. My family, my exes and even about my feelings for you. And then you do this to me. Do you have any idea how that makes me feel Claire?"

I gave her no time whatsoever to respond and continued, "I just cannot comprehend what the hell was going through your mind. You're supposed to be the smart one around here. The one who has the answers to everything and always does the right thing. For a genius you've been pretty dumb. You've certainly not been acting like the Claire Danvers I fell in love with."

She stared blankly at me for a few moments. Clearly bemused at the amount I'd said. She knew that I wasn't always good with saying what I was thinking in the right way but the words had just flown right out of my mouth. "Are you breaking up with me?" she asked.

Well that wasn't what I meant. Why would she think that? I quickly ran through the conversation in my head but I could find nothing that I had said that would have made her jump to that conclusion. "That's not-" She interrupted me trying to explain myself.

"No Shane. Don't. Just don't. I know I hurt you but I thought we had something together. I thought you loved me, no matter what. Obviously I was wrong." Claire turned on her heels and ran to the bathroom, slamming the door shut, leaving me stood open mouthed on my own.

Pulling myself together I chased after her. I smashed into the bathroom door feeling the full force of its lock to my chest. 'Ow' I thought. That was going to leave a mark. "Claire," I started, unsure of how to continue.

Instead of saying the first thing that came into my head, which would ultimately be the wrong thing, I sat down outside the bathroom door with my back against it. I seemed to be making a habit of this. Amongst heart wrenching sobs, I heard Claire do the same thing as she landed with a thud.

"When did things get so complicated?" I asked myself whilst half heartedly laughing. "Who am I kidding? Morganville's always been complicated. It's a town run by vampires for God's sake." Great. Now I was talking to myself. How much more insane could I go? There must be some kind of limit I could reach.

There was no movement to be heard on the other side of the door. I just sat there, waiting for her to be ready to come out. I felt like an idiot talking to a door. Whether or not Claire finally came out because she thought I was gone or not, I was unsure. But when the door finally did open, I fell backwards. Usually something like that would have her in a fit of laughter but not today. She just stared. On the plus side, she'd stopped crying. I suspected she didn't have anymore tears left to cry.

After I'd readjusted myself to sit against the wall instead of the door, I patted the ground as a gesture to ask her to sit next to me. A second or two passed and then she gave in and did as I asked. "So," I said at the same time as she said "Shane."

"Sorry," we said at the same time which despite everything made us both smile. I'd forgotten what it was like to see her smile. It felt like it had been an eternity since she had last worn it. I couldn't imagine how much stress she'd been under the past week. My poor baby girl. The bastard who put her through that was going to pay. I'd make sure of that.

"You first," she said. I noticed she was trying to put on a brave face for me even though she was the one that was now hurting. Typical Claire. Always trying to protect me.

"I'm sorry I upset you," I said softly. I was trying to start off with something easy and build up to talking about my feelings. Gasp right? A guy talking about his feelings. Shock horror! That was a rarity if ever there was one. Of course though, Claire being Claire, she couldn't just accept my apology and let me get on with it.

"Shane you have absolutely nothing to apologise for. It's my fault not yours. How could you even-" I put my hand over her mouth to make her stop rambling. I mean, she wasn't yet but she would be if I let her continue.

"Listen Claire," I said removing my hand from her mouth. Instead of looking at her I picked a spot on the wall opposite and stared at it. "I'm not breaking up with you. I love you too much to do that. I'm a little hurt that you thought you meant that little to me."

"Shane-" I silenced her with a look. She gave a tiny apologetic smile and waited patiently for me to continue.

I went back to looking at the spot on the wall. "What I'm trying to say is that I am hurt Claire. You have no idea how much it hurts. To know that my Dad is still alive. Well sort of anyway, you know what I mean. You know we never got along when I was growing up but that's not the point. At the end of the day he's still my Dad."

"I know," she whispered. When I didn't show any signs of responding to her she reached up and gently placed her hand on my cheek, turning my face towards hers. I couldn't help but reach up and put my hand over hers. She stared directly into my eyes, making me forget all of my worries. Then she leant forward and kissed me tenderly on the lips. And all I could do was kiss her back. Kissing Claire always made me forget the bad things and remember what good things I had in my life. Her being the main one.

Slowly, the kiss heated up and eventually we were both so out of breath that I had to regretfully pull away, only to lean my forehead against hers. I'd missed this Claire and I was extremely unwilling to risk losing that again so I kept my eyes tight shut as an extra measure to hold on to it.

"I'm so sorry Shane. It's been tearing me apart having to lie to you. I love you so much."

"I love you too," I replied. I couldn't hold it in any longer. I'm unashamed to say that I started to cry. Claire held me in her arms for what felt like hours. Reassuring me that everything was going to be okay. That we were going to be okay. And it was exactly what at that point in time, I needed to hear.

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><p><strong>If you like this please check out my other story for The Morganville Vampires. It's called Trouble Returns. It would really help me out because I'm trying my best to write a really good story but it's not getting many reviews. And yes, this is shameless self promotion.<strong>

**But thanks for sticking with the story. I appreciate it more than you can imagine. More will be coming soon! I promise. **

**All the best xx :)**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

A long while after we'd sat down, Claire was still softly stroking my hair when I realised something. "Haven't you got to go to school?" I asked Claire.

"It's fine. I don't want to leave you. Especially on your own."

I thought about that. It would be better for me if she stuck around today. Just to have her close would make me feel so much better. But that would be selfish of me. "I'll be fine. Go be smart with other less smart people." I knew she wouldn't want to leave. She thought that I was vulnerable (she was probably right) at the moment and it wouldn't be right to leave me alone. Just as she was about to protest but I said, "Don't worry about me. I'll see you when you get back."

"Are you sure?" You could tell that somewhere in the back of her mind that a part of her really wanted to go which ultimately made up my mind. For some reason, unbeknown to me, school was important to her. Sometimes I wondered what it would be like to be as academic as Claire and actually enjoy it. School was something that I just always had to do. I never used to pay any attention in class and that was probably why she seemed so strange to me.

"Positive." She leant over and kissed me. Before she tried to seduce me into asking her to stay, I pulled back and said, "Now, off you go genius."

"I'll see you tonight," she said before kissing me one more time and jogging off down the stairs. Thirty seconds after she'd headed towards the stairs I heard the door slam shut. I waited a couple of minutes to make sure she wasn't going to come back and then I went into the bathroom and had the quickest shower I could manage.

When I went into my room I threw on some clothes without really looking at them. A plan was constructing itself in my head. Usually I wasn't much for planning ahead but I thought it necessary. If I didn't have a plan today, I was going to get myself killed and I wouldn't allow that to happen. I wouldn't put my Claire through that. She didn't deserve it.

I opened up my wardrobe. There weren't many clothes in there, they were mostly strewn all over my bedroom floor, which is why I noticed straight away that the bag I always kept at the bottom was gone. A life saving bag that would be impossible for me to misplace even as messy and unorganised as I am.

I spun around searching for it nonetheless. This wasn't part of the barely formulated plan. Then it clicked and I stopped dead. That was it. The only explanation. Michael. He knew me that I had a short temper. He knew that I'd want revenge on Myrnin for what he'd done to the people I loved. Thinking about it the only opportunity he would have had to do that would have been when I'd been talking to Claire in her room earlier.

That meant one of two things. One, he'd told Claire he was going to work and then he'd snuck back in to take them or two, they were in it together. Either way I knew their hearts were in the right place. They wouldn't want me to be able to go off and get myself hurt and they knew that despite everything, I wasn't stupid enough to go charging off after a vampire without any weapons.

They were right. I wouldn't. But I knew where there was an equally as large supply of weapons. Smiling at my own cunningness I raced down the stairs. On my way to the front door I picked up two sets of keys. One were my own and the other, Eve's spare car keys.

It annoyed me that I had to head in the opposite direction. I was eager to just get on with it. Because I was so desperate to get there, I made the ten minute walk in five. I hesitated as I was about to open up Eve's car. Perhaps I was being a little paranoid but something told me that I should really have a reason for being here. Regretfully, I opened the door to Common Grounds and stepped inside. It wasn't that busy inside. Eve was behind the counter and when she heard the bell above the door ring she looked over. When she realised it was me she didn't look happy. Great. She pointed at me then to a table in the far corner. I took that as a hint that she wanted to talk to me. Yet more a delay to my plans. But I complied and trudged over to the corner like some naughty school boy.

Shortly, Eve followed. She had with her two cups of coffee. I guessed one was for her but I hoped the other was for me to drink and not for her to pour on me. She was so angry last night. She set it down in front of me and said, "You have two minutes to explain before I start hitting things. And by things I mean you." Yeah she was pissed.

I decided the quickest way to get this over with was to get straight to the point. "Fine," I sighed. "You remember that time when I watched my Dad get blown to pieces?" She nodded uncomfortably. "Well it turns out Claire's psycho boss decided to hijack his brain and stick it in one of his jars." Her mouth dropped wider than I thought possible. "Oh yeah, and Claire knew about it."

"Oh my God," she said. I just nodded. Without warning she got to her feet and hugged me tightly. "I'm sorry Shane."

"Not your fault." Although Eve and I argued a lot of the time, we really did care about each other. We were like brother and sister really. We messed around but when it came down to it, we'd always be there for each other.

"What are you going to do?" she asked. I knew what she meant. Just like Michael, (and possibly Claire) Eve thought I had a plan too. Despite knowing full well what she meant, I played dumb.

"I'm just going to go home and chill. Claire and I worked things out. I'm okay. Really."

"If you want I can ditch work and come play some video games with you," she offered.

"No you can't," Oliver called from behind the counter. "Get back to work Eve."

"It's fine. I'll see you at home," I said leaving Eve and my untouched coffee behind.

I was glad that Eve had parked her car slightly down the street so that it was just out of sight because she watched me the whole time I was leaving. Not wanting to draw any attention to myself, I casually pulled the inconspicuous black bag out of the car and locked the door.

Next stop Myrnin's lab.

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><p><strong>Sorry about the wait. It took longer than anticipated to get back into writing this story.<strong>

**I'll get the next chapter up in the next week. It's the holidays now so I'll have plently of time to write.**

**Thanks for keeping up with the story so far.**

**xx**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I was very aware walking down the alley to Myrnin's lab. Every bone in my body was screaming at me to just turn around. To find Claire and spend the night watching that stupid vampire movie the girls were obsessed with (black market goods Eve had had smuggled in by a friend who owed her a favour.

But I refrained from doing so. I knew that I'd kick myself in the long run for doing so. Besides, I was never one to turn down a fight. Especially if that fight was with a vampire. I didn't have very good odds of winning but I never did and yet somehow I always managed to survive.

There must be some kind of force watching over me. This thought had crossed my mind on numerous times. I'd never said anything to anyone, not even Claire, because secretly I thought that force was my mum and Alyssa. They'd kill me for doing this if they were still here. Mind you if they were still here, this probably wouldn't be happening.

It didn't matter anyway, the past was the past, and you can't change it. Not that I hadn't tried. On many occasions I'd prayed to a God I'm not even sure I believe in and promised that I'd do anything, give anything to be able to. Needless to say it hadn't worked.

As my head panicked, my body stayed perfectly calm. Steady breathing, braced for what was about to happen to me. I reached out and twisted the brass handle. It opened with a heavy metallic click. To no surprise to me, it wasn't locked. Who needed a lock on the door when there was a half crazy vampire ready to pounce on the unsuspecting intruder?

Cautiously I stepped through shutting the door behind me. I didn't bother trying to be quiet, there was no point. He'd hear anyway. Nervously, I twirled the bedazzled silver coated stake (that was the danger of using Eve's weapons, they were insanely girly) in my hand.

"Myrnin," I called when I saw no sign of him. Things were everywhere, littering the floors and counters. Anyone would've thought there had been a break in but I knew from Claire's stories that that was just him. She'd once compared me to him because she said wherever we went we left behind a trail of mess. At the time it hadn't bothered me. It took a lot to bother Shane Collins. Plus I knew it was only a joke, but now it really bugged me. No way would I let myself be compared to that monster again. Even if that meant I had to start cleaning. I shivered at the thought. "Hello?"

Walking further into the lion's den I grew more nervous. It was stupid I felt like that. He probably knew about my plans and was trying to mess with my head. I had to admit, it was working. I gulped. "Show yourself you coward," I ordered.

"Shane," a rough voice whispered.

I wanted to turn but every part of my body was frozen solid. It was as if someone had flicked a switch on the back of my neck, causing me to be paralyzed to the spot. I knew it was possible. After all, Ada could talk but I'd buried the very idea deep inside. He was dead. Twice over! You shouldn't be able to communicate with the people who weren't here in body. Once you're dead that should be it.

"Come on you're not scared of me are you?" he laughed. Actually laughed. How and why was that possible? Something about the way he said it though got something going inside of me that had been dormant for a while. It was a feeling I got everyday throughout my childhood. A need to impress him. To show him I wasn't the worthless son he always said I was.

Completely in control now, I took my time as I turned my entire body to face him. I t was one of the freakiest things I'd seen. And I'd seen a lot of weird stuff what with living in Morganville most of my life. A grainy black and white image of my late father. Why did this have to happen? It'd be in everyone's best interests if Frank Collins had just stayed dead!

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><p><strong>So here's the girl who can't tell the difference between 1 week and 4. In future, don't listen to what I say. Sorry it's short I've been finding this quite difficult to write. There won't be many more chapters. Bye for now x<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Frank," I said in the best emotionless voice I could manage. There was no way I would show him how much I was freaking out inside. It wouldn't be feasible. He'd know that he'd gotten to me and I wasn't having that! I cleared my throat. "Not enough people to annoy beyond the grave so you had to come back to piss the rest of us off I see."

He ignored my sarcasm. "I thought you'd come here soon enough. I just wasn't expecting it to be this soon. When Claire stopped the other day in tears to warn Myrnin that you knew, I figured you were pissed."

"Well I didn't really have a choice did I?"

"So you've come to avenge your old Dad. I'm flattered."

"What?" I asked. I'd had strict intentions of not letting me self get roped into Frank Collins' little games I was annoyed with myself for even thinking about what he'd said let alone verbalising it.

"Well that is why you're here isn't it. To kill the vampire who turned me into this thing. I just assumed, since you're armed and everything."

"I…" I was stuck. I hadn't thought about it like that. It occurred to me that I hadn't really thought about it at all although it felt like I had thought about everything. Being angry had clouded my thoughts. But now wasn't time for this. "No I didn't."

"Oh," he said exaggerating it with a fact hint of hurt as he put his 2-D hands over his nonexistent heart.

"There's no way I'd risk my life for you." Lies. "Claire on the other hand deserves to be protected. You're right about one thing, I did come to kill the leech but don't think for one second it's for you."

"Oh… Is that so?" a voice asked from the shadows making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.


End file.
